   on the server. Defaults to filling in the full buffer unless start and
   len vals are specified. Asynchronous."
   ([buf val]
+     (ensure-buffer-active! buf)
      (assert (buffer? buf))
      (buffer-fill! buf 0 (:size buf) val))
   ([buf start len val]

  very slow."
  ([buf data] (buffer-write-relay! buf 0 data))
  ([buf start-idx data]
     (assert (buffer? buf))
     (loop [data-left data
            idx       0]

  writing the data (defaults to 0)."
  ([buf data] (buffer-write! buf 0 data))
  ([buf start-idx data]
     (ensure-buffer-active! buf)
     (assert (buffer? buf))
     (when (> (count data) MAX-OSC-SAMPLES)
       (throw (Exception. (str "Error - the data you attempted to write to the buffer was too large to be sent via UDP."))))
